1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring aid system for causing a three-dimensional measuring apparatus, a picture measuring apparatus and so on to automatically measure a measurement object with a measurement procedure file (part program)
2. Prior Art
In a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) three-dimensional measuring apparatus, data such as a moving path, a moving speed, a moving direction vector of a probe, and a geometric shape of a measurement object has been written to a measurement procedure file such as a part program file. By executing the measurement procedure file, the three-dimensional measuring apparatus is controlled so as to automatically measure an object. There are two methods for creating a measurement procedure file.
As a first method, the three-dimensional measuring apparatus is actually operated by using a joystick (J/S) and operation panel for measuring a measurement object. By recording a measurement procedure during the actual measurement operation, a measurement procedure file is created. This method is referred to as playback method.
As a second method, a three-dimensional model of a measurement object is created by a computer with CAD (Computer Aided Design) data. The measurement procedure file is created by a measurement procedure teaching operation to the three-dimensional model on the computer. This method is referred to as CAT (Computer Aided Testing) system.
In each of such methods, the created measurement procedure file includes definition information (that defines the shape and position of a measurement object), probe information (that defines a probe for use), measurement procedure information (that defines the moving path, a measurement timing, and so forth of a probe), and various comment information. These information is written as character strings. Since a measurement procedure file is created and stored by a learn operation, the file can be repeatedly used for measuring the measurement object. When the object is to be measured according to a different procedure, measurement procedure information of a measurement procedure file is edited and stored as another file.
As is mentioned above, a measurement procedure file is repeatedly read and used or edited. When a particular measurement procedure file is selected for a particular measurement object, a measurement procedure file is selected with reference to the file name, definition information thereof, comment information, and so forth included in each file.
However, a file name, definition information, comment information, and so forth included in a measurement procedure file are composed of characters and numeric values. Thus, it is very difficult to look for a particular measurement object in such information. In reality, when measurement procedure files for measurement objects with similar shapes have been created, an improper measurement procedure file may be selected for a measurement object. In this event, a probe may interfere with a measurement object and thereby the machine and/or object may be damaged.
When a measurement procedure file has to be modified so as to omit part of a measurement procedure or to measure only a particular measurement portion of a measurement object, a corresponding portion has to be searched and modified in the file which is represented in text format. Thereafter, the modified file has to be stored with another name.
In such a measurement procedure file, measurement results are overwritten to the original file as character strings. To recognize a measurement position, numeric data as character strings must be troublesomely checked.